Klarinet Archive - Posting 000091.txt from 1998/05

From: "MARY A. VINQUIST" <kenshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Metal Clarinet/Debussy
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 06:08:06 -0400

Jennifer Rose McKenna wrote that the first performance of the Debussy
Premiere Rapsodie was given on a metal clarinet. David Naden correctly
observed that the piece was written as a contest piece for the Paris
Conservatory, so we don't know who gave the first performance.

I think what Jennifer meant is that the first *recording* was made on a
metal instrument. This may be correct. The first recording was by Gasto=
n
Hamelin, who was the principal in Boston. He did in fact play a metal
clarinet, at least some of the time. If anyone has the Grenadilla LP
reissue, it shows a picture of Hamelin holding one. There has been some
discussion of this on the board, and at least one person has said that he=

was fired from Boston for playing it.

If the firing story is true, then prior to that time, Hamelin was playing=

on a wood instrument. Thus there is no way of knowing which instrument h=
e
used for the recording. It's interesting to think that he may have been
playing a metal horn. The recording, though rather primitive (acoustic, =
I
think) shows a fine sound and perfect technique. At the least, the fact
that a leading player used a metal instrument shows that there is nothing=

inherently bad about metal.

Alexander Williams (principal in the NBC Symphony during its final years)=

told me that he played a silver Bettony Eb when he was in the New York
Philharmonic. Charlie Ponte had a Bb/A pair of silver Bettony clarinets =
at
his old shop, which played very nicely.

Finally, someone (I forget who or where) recently stated that Henry Lazar=
us
preferred instruments made of hard rubber. From all accounts, he was an
exceptional player. (See the collected music reviews of George Bernard
Shaw, who, incidentally, wrote as "Corno di Bassetto.")

Well, this has gotten to $.03. Ciao.

Ken Shaw

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